Would you believe that Mike Jones, frosh forward for the Orange this year, is the first basketball player surnamed Jones in the 107 year history of Syracuse basketball? That’s including scholarship, walk-ons, scrubs, etc. As far as my research shows, he's the first.
There was a Smith (Bill), a couple of Johnsons (Dave & Derrick), a Washington (Pearl), a Jackson (Luke), and a couple of Wrights (Josh & Dayshawn).
The leaders: 5 Lees, 5 Starks and 5 Browns. The Lees were definitely the best of the bunch. There were the brothers Lee of the 70’s: Mike & Jimmy. Matthew Lee who was the star of the team back in 1910. Charlie Lee was one of the Three Musketeers with Vic Hanson & Gotch Carr who won the 1926 National Championship. David Lee who was team manager and star forward back in 1907.
The Starks were most notable because of the Stark Brothers (Mike, Pat and Lou), two of who are in the Greater Syracuse Sports Hall of Fame. Mike for his overall contributions to sports as a player and coach, and Pat because of his football prowess as a quarterback and later as a head coach. The other two Starks were Lou, a football player who played some hoops from 1934-1935, and John, a star player of the 1905-1906 teams.
The Browns had Damone Brown, a solid forward from 1998-2001 who played a little bit in the NBA. William Brown and Mel Brown played a little at Syracuse. Michael Brown was a smooth shooting guard who transferred from Syracuse in the mid 1990s. The fifth Brown? Some guy named Jim who apparently excelled at football and lacrosse.
There have been four Williams (DeShaun, Eric, Jimmy and some guy in 1945… first name unknown), four Scotts (Ollie, Tony, Walter, and H.D.), and four Katzs (Ev, Joel, Larry, Milton).
Even two guys name Suprunowicz (Dick and Bill), two name Baysinger, two named Glacken. Guys named Giusti, Konstanty, Jackimaiak, Simonaitis, Bartholomew and Sidat-Singh.
But never a guy named Jones. At least, not until the 2006-2007 season.
For the Jewish brothers, any other Cohens besides Marty?
ReplyDeleteNow if there were multiple Ovcina's or Janulis's, THAT would be impressive.
ReplyDeletekd bart: There were three Cohens at Syracuse: Vinnie, Vinnie Jr, and Hal. Vinnie Cohen, despite the suggestion his last name and being from Brooklyn would make, was not Jewish.
ReplyDeleteThere are several prominant Jewish basketball players for Syracuse University (source: http://www.jewsinsports.org/ )
Lou Sugarman would be the first Jewish scholarship player at Syracuse. The list would include John Barsha, Mel Besdin, Sol Bloom, Ed Goldberg, Lew Hayman, Bob Marcus, Ed Miller, Phil Rakov, and Danny Schayes. Schayes would play more games in the NBA than any other Syracuse Orangeman.